At Least 52 Dead in Attacks in Southern Iraq

At least 52 people including Iranians were killed on Thursday in twin gun and car bomb attacks near the city of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq, according to a new toll.

“The toll has now reached 52 dead and 87 wounded,” Abdel Hussein al-Jabri, deputy health chief for theprovince of Dhiqar of which Nasiriyah is the capital, told AFP.

He warned that the death toll could rise as many of the wounded were in serious condition.

The first attack struck close to a restaurant while shortly afterwards a car bomb targeted a security checkpoint in the same area, officials said.

Security sources said the attackers were disguised as members of the Hashed al-Shaabi, the paramilitary units which have fought alongside the army and police against ISIL terrorist group and defeated it in most of the territories it occupied in 2014.

ISIL claimed responsibility for the twin attacks in a statement released by its propaganda arm.